Wealth fund idea naive, pathetic: Henry

Calls to set up a sovereign wealth fund to accompany Australia's resources boom have been labelled "naive, even pathetic" by former treasury secretary Ken Henry.

The idea of establishing such a fund, containing a slice of the government's income from commodity sales to be invested in financial assets, has been flagged during a national debate on capitalising on the mining boom.

Addressing a University of NSW forum in Sydney on Wednesday, Mr Henry said that, unlike Australia, Norway charged a significant price for its natural resources.

Norway with its gas and oil reserves has a sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund Global, which is the world's largest.

"The proportion of resource value accruing to the Norwegian communities through these channels is several multiples of what Australian governments, commonwealth and state, extract from the exploitation of its minerals and energy resources," he said.

Mr Henry, whose 30-year career included roles in the Keating and Rudd administrations, said Australia still heard calls for its own sovereign wealth fund when legislation to repeal the "remarkably weak" Mineral Resources Rent Tax was before parliament.

"These calls to establish an Australian sovereign wealth fund are naive, even pathetic," he said.